If I have to give you a list of all the problematic things we glorify about women, it will never end. It’s infuriating to see characters women get to play in cinema. So, if you don’t act the way society wants you to or question them, you are too strong-headed.

Indeed, the media plays a huge role in the depiction of women, and sometimes they utterly fail. And this Reddit thread has some best examples about it.   

1. “Fat woman characters whose entire storyline revolves around their weight. Can we as a society be done with this and just let fat women exist? The first episode of This is Us was so trope heavy I gave up on the entire series.”

Answer source – Reddit 

2. “Woman fainting at the sight of blood. Like, she can bleed for a week every month and change bloody pads/tampons/clothes/bedding with her own blood on it but will faint at the sight of non-period blood. Really?”

Answer source – Reddit 

3. “All the average joe/overweight sitcom husbands with gorgeous supermodel wives. Usually, when the male lead is also creator/EP, imagine that.”

Answer source – Reddit 

4.” I remember watching Friends, in the scene where Monica is berating Ross about his wedding to Emily. She says something to the effect of “you’ve been planning this for a month, Emily’s probably been planning this her whole life. Ever since she first put a pillowcase on her head to be a veil, all any girl dreams of is having the perfect wedding blah blah blah.” It’s just like…not every girl puts her big beautiful wedding as a top priority in life, you know?”

Answer source – Reddit 

5. “I hate that every female character in sitcoms has children during the plot. Even the women who start clearly child-free. A good example of this is Bernadette from the big bang theory, who ends up having two children. I like much better the story of Xiomara from Jane the Virgin, who gets pregnant unplanned, has an abortion and doesn’t regret her decision.”

Answer source – Reddit 

6. “When they feel like they have to marry off every female character before the end of a show. Even if it comes out of nowhere.”

Answer source – Reddit 

7. “When a problem presents and a woman looks at the male lead with big eyes and goes “What now?!” As if women don’t have problem-solving skills or must rely on men to take care of them in the face of adversity!”

Answer source – Reddit 

8. “The gorgeous model hot capable woman who for some reason settles for the passive, dippy, dopey nerdy-misogynistic passive-aggressive dude who views her as the prize to be won rather than a real person. God forbid she prefers a hot guy rather than the one who puts her on a pedestal.”

Answer source – Reddit 

9. “The ones whose sole focus in life is (A) Getting a man (B) Keeping a man and (C) Trying desperately to get pregnant.”

Answer source – Reddit 

10. “When a woman’s period is late in media, she immediately panics, and says, I’m never late, never! And like . . . yes, some hormonal birth controls get you on a regular schedule, but not every woman uses them. Not every woman gets her period on the same day every month. I know it’s for the drama/tension of the story line, but to me, it shows a lack of experience or research.”

Answer source – Reddit 

11. “Fight scenes in towering high heels. IRL broken ankles everywhere.”

Answer source – Reddit 

12. “That they’re all really marriage and children hungry. Overly ambitious women? Misdirected man-hunger. Let’s throw a man into it to show her how her priorities are screwed up. Bam, she is now less ambitious – maybe quits her high-powered job on Wall Street to become a small-town librarian so that she can marry that lumberjack she met on a weekend trip.”

Answer source – Reddit 

13. “Have you guys met Bollywood (Indian) movies. It’s a little better now, but the whole plot of most movies was “the girl says a clear no, the guy stalks and has no respect for her choices. Then the girl falls in love with him” And then people wonder how the concept of consent got blurred.”

Answer source – Reddit 

14. “I absolutely hate the way labor and childbirth scenes are depicted on TV, especially sitcoms.”

Answer source – Reddit 

15. “When a Quirky Girl has to “grow up” because her single status, free spirit, love of animals, biking and art and desire to live each day to the fullest does not vibe with our capitalist society. She must Find a Man, Get a Job (but not a SERIOUS job! Something cute and dainty, like making cupcakes or selling shoes!) and Settle Down.”

Answer source – Reddit 

16. “The one where you see a character vomit once and the viewer can ONLY assume she is pregnant. I have vomited a bit in my life, and it’s never been a pregnancy. Lol.”

Answer source – Reddit 

17. “The whole thing with Black Widow in Avengers 2. She was a child assassin haunted by the innocents she killed, but no, the thing that REALLY makes her relate to Bruce Banner becoming a monster is that she can’t get pregnant. The implication that infertility is monstrous, that all women must want kids (when that was never a part of her character afaik), that adoption is inferior to having bio kids… horrible all around.”

Answer source – Reddit 

18. “When they make every woman act like a breakup is the end of the world. IMO and experience men take breakups much worse than women. (Obviously not the case for everyone).”

Answer source – Reddit 

19. “Almost every anime ever. I can count series with decent female characters on one hand.”

Answer source – Reddit 

20. “When the girl is supposed to be ugly so she wears glasses and has braces.”

Answer source – Reddit 

21. “The overattentive wife, who is almost always portrayed as having an interesting career and personality yet serves only to fawn over her husband/kid and develop their own characters.”

Answer source – Reddit 

22. “Something I hated while watching the walking dead and others like it, is how much they didn’t talk about periods. I would’ve loved to hear one of the women in the shows say “fuck I really need a nighttime pad, I’m bleeding through my pants.” If I was still alive by that time (which I doubt it) you best believe I’m complaining about my period when it comes up.”

Answer source – Reddit 

23. “Jurassic world where the lady goes through the fucking jungle in heels and low cut tank top (I know she worked inside, but still). Bring back on Jurassic park where they dressed for being in the jungle.”

Answer source – Reddit 

24. “That you can either be a mother or have a career. Cause apparently you can’t have both.”

Answer source – Reddit 

25. “That we are always gonna catfight or have issues with other girls who are different. The poor girl must fight the rich girl or the popular must fight the nerd girl. Let’s just make girls fight or play fight for the male gaze.”

Answer source – Reddit 

26. “Women detectives who put themselves in harm’s way, they are saved by a man at the last second.”

Answer source – Reddit 

I am sure you have more to say. Go ahead and add to this list.